Century Club: John Zseleczky

Another no-air day on the Chesapeake.  The Chesapeake Shorthanded Sailing Society (CHESSS) had 13 boats registered for its first race of the season but the forecast was dismal … and accurate. It rained steadily on the ride to the starting area and died out as the day went on.

Before the start the wind was SE at five knots, which would have been very raceable, but it dropped to 0 – 2 knots right before the first start.  All of the boats struggled to get to the line and most were late.

About an hour later the wind died entirely with occasional one knot whiffs.  Boats lost steerage way with some pointing back to Annapolis at times.  I had to roll in my jib and scull the rudder to aim my bow away from “Cheshire Cat” a light Stiletto that managed to roll past me to leeward.  The tidal current began to flood about then and I found that I was mostly going sideways.  The crab pot markers were beating me to windward so I eventually put out the anchor to hold my ground.

A few boats, like the Stiletto and a J/100 managed to advance with each tiny whiff of air and made it about two thirds of the way to the first mark.  At 1330 the race committee called by VHF and concluded it was necessary to abandon the race. 

The wind never really came back that day.  Now that I see my GPS track it is clear that the RC did me a favor.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed for better wind next year.

I did get a nice evening on the boat anchored in Rhode River after the race.  It rained steadily and peacefully all night but cleared out by morning for a pleasant motor trip home.

Light air (4-8 kts), gray sky, 65 degF and no waves at all.  We had some beautiful sailing on the Magothy on Tom's International One Design "Flicker" once again.  Just three of us on the boat but in light air it was really no trouble.  The long-ended IOD leans over and slices through still water like a warm knife through butter.

The snapshot in my head for the night was "Cool Hand Tom" eyeballing the sails from the low side as the boat greased toward the starting line for a pin end, port tack start, fully up to speed.  "Charlie", a big J/35, was rolling toward us on starboard like a freight train and caught a last minute lift.  We were clearly not going to make it in front of them.  No problem, Tom eased the boat over to starboard and we lost little ground, holding them off to windward.

The sail back to Gibson Island was as memorable as the race, gliding by horses grazing on the lush spring-green pastures across from Eagle Cove.  The silent wake from "Flicker" reflected the last of the evening light as we silently worked our way into the anchorage and up to the mooring.  What a nice way to end your day.

The weather forecast predicted two beautiful blue sky sailing days back to back.  Thursday 5 - 10 S, 75 degF and Friday 15+ E, 65 degF.  I cancelled my plans and cashed in home chips for a solo trip to St. Michaels.  Had a gorgeous beat against a 3/4 knot current down to Bloody Point with three long tacks across the Bay.  "Old Blue" steered herself the whole way with a sheet-to-tiller system, in perfect flat water conditions.  Put up the spinnaker for the warm light air ride up Eastern Bay, and then had a lively flat water beat back down to St. Michael's.  The wind picked up halfway down the beat so I reefed the main and short tacked in.

Anchored in the little 8' deep harbor to the right side of the Maritime Museum with no other boats there.  Pumped up the inflatable and rowed in for a great dinner at Ava's and a walk around town.  Played some cello before bed and conked out hard only to be wakened at 4am as the wind backed to the East and picked up to 15+ blowing the dinghy around on the bow.  We dragged a bit but kept 100' off the docks so I didn't bother re-anchoring but sleep was marginal.

Since I was awake anyway I folded up and stowed the dinghy in the morning twilight and headed out by 6am.  Shook out the reef only to put it back in after the turn down Eastern Bay.  The wind was piping and we were still overpowered so I rolled up the jib and set up the Solent to have a pleasant ride down.  Had a nice ride home on a beam reach past all of the NOOD racing boats and back in the dock before noon.

A perfect way to start the cruising season!

Temp's in the 80's inland for the first time of the year.  Steve C came out to Annapolis to putter on his boat, "Blithe Spirit" a Tartan 4100.  The air was super light at the dock but we motored out to find a beautiful 8 - 12 knots on the Bay.  Cruised across, back and forth a few times.  Strange to see only one ship anchored because of the FSK bridge collapse.  The tugs and tows are still out though so you still need to pay attention.